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The Kyocera DuraCore ($49.99) is a rugged flip-style cell phone, and one of the first to hook into Sprint’s next-generation Direct Connect service. It’s practically the same phone as the push-to-talk Kyocera DuraMax ($69.99, 3.5 stars) minus the camera. It’s got a rugged build, good voice quality, and a solid keypad. But both phones’ UI is woefully outdated, and their features are extremely limited. They’re fine for voice-only, push-to-talk communication, but that’s about it.
Design, Call Quality, and Direct Connect
Like the DuraMax, the DuraCore feels like a tough phone, with a grippy, scratch-resistant, rubberized casing. It’s a bit smaller than the DuraMax, at 3.9 by 2.0 by 0.9 inches (HWD) and 4.4 ounces; though it’s still pretty bulky, this is the easier phone to slip into your pocket.
The DuraCore also meets military specification 810G, so it’s resistant to dust, extreme temperatures, low pressure, rain, salt fog, shock, and vibration, among other rough conditions. Unlike the DuraMax, however, it cannot be submerged in water, so keep that in mind if you work in a wet environment.
There’s a 1-inch, monochrome 96-by-64-pixel external display that shows the battery life, date, reception, and time. The internal 320-by-240-pixel LCD looks surprisingly sharp. The default font size is a bit small, but you can make it larger. The phone’s keypad is great; it features large, raised keys with plenty of space in between, which should make it possible to dial while wearing gloves.
The DuraCore is a dual-band EV-DO Rev. A (850/1900 MHz) device with no Wi-Fi. Reception is average and voice quality is good overall. Earpiece volume gets plenty loud and voices sound clear, if a bit thin. Calls made with the phone also sound very natural, with excellent noise cancellation. One complaint: When flipped open, the phone feels a little too flat and long to talk on comfortably. Even though transmissions sound excellent, I never felt like I was talking directly into the mouthpiece. The speakerphone is plenty loud, if not quite ear-splitting. You shouldn’t have trouble hearing it outside, unless you’re surrounded by heavy construction.
Calls also sounded good through a Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset ($129, 4.5 stars) and the Nuance-powered voice dialing worked well. Battery life was good at 6 hours and 53 minutes of talk time.
Sprint’s new CDMA push-to-talk system combines the fast Internet speeds and nationwide coverage of Sprint’s CDMA network with the instantaneous push-to-talk of the old Nextel iDEN network. You need to be in a Sprint coverage area in order to use the DuraCore, but you can still make push-to-talk calls to Nextel iDEN subscribers. The new network supports Call Alert With Text, which sends an audio alert and text message to another subscriber, along with Group Connect, which can connect 20 subscribers together at once. You can also use the Direct Connect button to mass-message up to 200 Direct Connect subscribers in one shot, or to send recorded messages to email addresses or handsets via text message.
For this review, I tested Direct Connect using one DuraCore and one DuraMax. It took a second or so to initiate the connection, after which transmissions were essentially instantaneous. Voice quality is solid, and like the speakerphone, you should be able to hear the DuraCore in all but the noisiest environments.
Apps, Multimedia, and Conclusions
Standard calling duties aside, the DuraCore is a pretty bare bones feature phone. The main menu features the same grid with 12 icons that Sprint has used on many flip phones in the past. It’s dated, and requires at least nine button presses to perform an easy task like pairing a Bluetooth headset.
There’s an Access NetFront 4.1 browser for reading WAP pages; desktop HTML is out. The DuraCore also supports TeleNav GPS Navigator for voice-enabled, turn-by-turn directions, as well as Sprint Family Locator.
A nonstandard 2.5mm headphone jack on the right side of the phone supports voice headsets. There’s no music or video player, and there’s no camera, so the scant 64MB of free internal memory and lack of microSD card slot aren’t big issues.
If you’re ready to leave Nextel’s slow iDEN network behind, the Kyocera DuraCore is a good choice for users that need a push-to-talk device just for making calls. For an additional $20, the Kyocera DuraMax adds a decent camera, a microSD card slot, and the ability to withstand some time in water. But if you’re looking to do more with your device, the Motorola Admiral ($99.99, 4 stars) is a ruggedized Android smartphone with plenty of excellent multimedia features, as well as access to more than 400,000 apps in the Android Market. And if all you’re looking for is ultra loud push-to-talk and are willing to rough it out on iDEN, take a look at the Motorola Brute i686 ($139.99, 3.5 stars).
Benchmarks
Continuous talk time: 6 hours 53 minutes
Article source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400229,00.asp
Apparently, the rugged smartphone business is profitable because manufacturers continue to make durable phones and release them. Not only are they still being made, but they’re getting better. I remember a time when rugged phones were the outcasts of the cellphone market. Recently, though, these ultra-durable devices are packing internals that can keep pace with a lot of phones on the market. Not only are they rugged, they’re actually good enough to use.
The Rugby Smart by Samsung is designed to be water, dust, shock, and temperature proof and is IP 67.00 and MIL-STD-810 certified. It can withstand drops from 6.6 feet, temperatures from -60 degrees Fahrenheit to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, and can survive blowing rain, dust, sand, high humidity, solar radiation, salt, fog, and thermal shock, at least according to Samsung. I’ll have to put it to the test to see if it’s actually rugged enough for your lifestyle. In the meantime, here are my first impressions of the Rugby Smart after using it for about a day.
- For being a rugged phone, the design is quite modern and stylish. Obviously, it’s not going to rival the iPhone or one of Samsung’s high-end smartphones in the design department, but it’s certainly not hideous like some rugged phones I’ve tested. The back features a textured finish and the sides are molded with rubber. It’s thin for a rugged phone, only .35-inches in depth.
- The 3.7-inch Super AMOLED display looks great. It’s crisp and the color saturation is excellent. So far, the touchscreen is smooth and responsive. The screen is made of Gorilla Glass to add to its durable nature. A 3.7-inch display seems small after using so many of these new devices that feature 4+-inch displays, so that may be a concern going forward. This will obviously be a factor if you have large hands or fingers.
- The Rugby Smart ships with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and TouchWiz 4.0. I’m somewhat surprised by the decision to use Gingerbread but I’m even more surprised by the inclusion of the latest version of TouchWiz. This is not something you typically see in a phone of this caliber. TouchWiz 4.0 brings several improvements to the UI, including a refined design, resizable widgets, motion zooming using the accelerometer and gyroscope, and more.
- I’ve been impressed with the phone’s performance thus far. It’s powered by a 1.4 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 processor backed up by 512 MB of RAM. I haven’t noticed any lag or major slowdowns in the short time I’ve been using it. Web browsing has also been smooth and enjoyable. A quick Quadrant Standard benchmark test gave the phone a score of 1,425.
- I’ve yet to perform many tests with the phone’s 5-megapixel camera. It features an LED flash and autofocus, and it captures 720p HD video. A video sample will be uploaded within a few days. The phone also has a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.
- I’m not expecting to get excellent performance from the Rugby Smart’s 1650 mAh battery, especially considering it’s a 4G phone. Samsung estimates that you should get eight hours of talk time or 16.7 days of standby time. I haven’t been able to perform any battery tests just yet so those results will have to wait for the full review.
- As I mentioned in the above bullet point, the Rugby Smart supports ATT’s HSPA+ network and is capable of speeds of 14.4 Mbps for downloads. I’ve historically gotten inconsistent and slow speeds when testing ATT phones in the Dallas area. I’ve done a couple of speed tests with the Rugby Smart and I’m getting an average of 700 kbps for downloads. This is quite slow for an HSPA+ device and I hope it will improve over the course of the test period.
For those who need a reliable, rugged smartphone, the Rugby Smart appears to be a good option. I can’t pass judgement until I’ve been able to test it fully, but all signs are positive so far. The price isn’t bad either at $99 on contract. Keep it locked on PhoneDog to see my video and written reviews of the Samsung Rugby Smart.
Samsung Rugby Smart First… – Image Gallery
Samsung Rugby Smart
Article source: http://www.phonedog.com/2012/03/12/samsung-rugby-smart-first-impressions-by-sydney/
Yes there are other tablets out that other than the Apple iPad and Android tablets, and a new Windows tablet with rugged capabilities has now been launched, the GammaTech RT10C tablet that has been designed for industrial and construction industry application, public works deployment and basically anywhere you need a rugged slate.
According to the guys over at Ubergizmo, the GammaTech RT10C tablet sports a 10.2-inch 1024 x 600 touch screen along with an Intel Core i7-620UE mobile processor, integrated graphics, WiFi, Bluetooth, VGA port, CompactFlash slot, PCMCIA port, Ethernet port, 2 USB 2.0 ports and 2mini card slots.
The GammaTech RT10C slate is built to military 810G standards along with being IP65 rated for water and dust protection whilst being shock proof, drop proof, dust proof, spill proof and water tight.
Other features on the GammaTech RT10C tablet include a 9-cell Smart 7800mAh battery said to deliver up to five hours of life, TPM 1.2 fingerprint recognition and optional Smart Card reader for security purposes.
The GammaTech RT10C delivers a choice of operating systems, Windows embedded standard 2009, Windows 7 or if you prefer, Windows 7 Pro.
As for just how much of your hard earned cash the GammaTech RT10C Windows tablet will set you back, well unfortunately there’s no word on the price tag just yet, but for more info you can hit up GammaTech.
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Article source: http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2012/01/25/rugged-windows-tablet-outstanding-gammatech-rt10c/